Empowering non-ICT sectors for a resilient future: Squad 2024

• November 18, 2024
• admin

From February to September 2024, the Digital Skills and Jobs Platform (DSJP) organized an online working group (Squad 2024) focused on enhancing digital skills in non-ICT professions. This group, comprising 18 experts from across Europe, delved into crucial discussions on digital skills needs in non-digital sectors during a series of online sessions. The experts represented a range of perspectives from policy, industry, and technology, exploring the challenges and opportunities tied to the EU’s digital skills agenda.

Equipping citizens for tomorrow: the urgent call for digital proficiency across sectors

The timing of these discussions is underscored by recent statistics: while over 90% of jobs in Europe require basic digital skills, 42% of Europeans still lack these essential skills. This skills gap threatens the EU’s digital competitiveness and makes it more difficult to achieve the ambitious goals of the Digital Decade.  By 2030, the EU wants 80% of citizens to have basic digital skills and to increase the number of ICT professionals to 20 million. However, despite significant investment – a total of €26.9 billion – the 2023 State of the Digital Decade report predicts that without additional efforts, only 59% of Europeans will have basic digital skills by 2030.

The Digital Decade report and the Cardinal Points both emphasize the critical need for digital skills across all sectors, not just in ICT roles. This is particularly true in key industries like healthcare and agriculture, where the demand for specialists with advanced digital skills, referred to as ‘digital integrators,’ is growing. These professionals are pivotal in applying technologies like artificial intelligence (AI), augmented reality, and data analytics to improve outcomes, such as more accurate medical diagnoses or optimized production processes in farming.

Closing the digital skills gap with a resilient workforce

During the Squad 2024 sessions, 18 experts explored the current state of digital skills in non-ICT sectors, the frameworks that address these needs, and evolving policies across Europe. Their collaborative discussions culminated in the publication of a vision paper outlining the key findings.

The vision paper calls for urgent action to close the digital skills gap in non-ICT occupations, focusing on both technical and transversal skills. It identifies several challenges, including the lack of a cohesive framework for digital skills, uneven adoption of AI, and the growing digital divide, especially for smaller businesses and non-digital sectors. To address these issues, the paper recommends the creation of adaptable frameworks that evolve with technological advances and ensure that workers acquire not only technical expertise, but also essential soft skills such as adaptability, problem-solving and continuous learning.

A unified approach to education for the future and lifelong learning

The vision paper calls for immediate, cross-sector collaboration between companies, educators and policymakers to redesign educational frameworks and develop industry-specific training programs. It also highlights the importance of fostering a culture of continuous learning, with leadership playing a key role in preparing the workforce for future demands. Ultimately, digital transformation must be understood as a cultural shift, not just a technological one, and requires a unified effort from all stakeholders to build a sustainable, inclusive digital economy.

You can access the full paper here.